Home for the Holidays
by dragonrider2345
Summary: "I'll be home for Christmas." Percy and the gang have finally returned home, just in time for the holidays. Paul and Sally are overjoyed to have their son/stepson home in time for the holiday, while Percy and his friends plan on having Christmas together. On Hiatus!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! Dragonrider here! This is my first Percy Jackson fanfic, but all criticism is welcomed! Hope you enjoyed!**

Chapter one:

"There," Paul heaved as he brought the rest of the Christmas decorations from a closet into their small apartment. He dropped the box, and Sally watched as dust flew off of it. He wiped his hands from the dust. "I think that's it. We just need to decorate this place."

"Thanks," Sally told him as she gave him a peck on his cheek. "I usually have Per-Percy . . ." She broke down into tears at her lost son. Paul wrapped an arm around her.

It was a few months since she had received a call from Chiron telling her about Percy's whereabouts in Tartarus. She had been so broken-down, so saddened, and so had Paul. After all, they had known what laid down there. They hadn't received anything after that.

Sally sighed, and gazed around her living room. The couches were untouched by the dusty boxes, which were littered around the floor. She had began to pull out some items, but hadn't gotten far. Soft, melodious Christmas music flowed into the apartment from a CD player sitting on a couch. She recognized the song as _'Silent Night' _by Martina McBride. She hadn't realized that Paul had changed the Cds.

Paul noticed her eyebrows raised at the song. "Hey, she has a good voice." She grinned at him.

"I'm not saying anything," Sally sniffed, and dried her tears with the palm of her hand.

"He'll be okay," Paul comforted her, gathering her in his arms. She cried soundless into his shoulder, but he didn't care.

Suddenly, the door was knocked on, and Paul reluctantly released her. He smiled apologetically at her, and she nodded. Confirming that it okay, she shoved him playfully towards the door, and turned back towards the living room. The door was knocked on more fiercely, and Paul unlocked it, not bothering to check through the peephole. What he saw surprised him greatly.

In front of him stood nine bloody, bandaged demigods. He immediately recognized Percy in the front, and wasted no time engulfing the teen in his arms. Tears swelled to his eyes as he saw the mess Percy was, but mostly the relief to have his step-son home.

They stood like that for a couple of minutes, enjoying each others' company, the others waiting patiently behind them. He could tell Percy was crying too, and begun to feel the tears once again drench his shirt. Percy was in time for Christmas, and he knew that Sally would be overjoyed that her son was home. Speaking of Sally . . .

"Sally!" He called, releasing his hold on Percy. "You might want to come see this!"

"Is something wrong?" Percy grinned at the sound of his mom. Just as Sally walked towards the door, Percy ran, and hugged her tightly, as if afraid that he might lose her. And, Paul realized, he probably was afraid.

Paul tore his gaze off the mother and son, and looked towards the others. He recognized Nico Di Angelo, from Percy's birthday, and from when he came with Percy to get his mom's blessing. He didn't recognize the others, though.

"Forgive me for being rude," Paul apologized towards the group. "My name's Paul, stepfather of Percy."

"Hey, Paul." Nico told him calmly. Paul nodded at the boy.

"Hey, Nico." Paul smiled gently, but didn't get one from the boy. He knew to expect that, though. The son of Hades was never very social.

"My name is Jason Grace," a blond haired boy announced. He had electric blue eyes, and his abdomen was wrapped with bandaging.

"I'm Piper McLean," a girl who had choppy brown hair told him.

"Leo Valdez, at your service," a boy with elfish features, and curly hair introduced himself. He had grease stains all over himself, so Paul figured that he spent a lot of time with machines.

"I'm Frank," a Chinese boy told him. "Frank Zhang."

"Hazel Levesque," a dark-skinned girl greeted. She casually shook his hand, and he grinned at her. She smiled politely back.

"My name is Thalia," a punk-looking girl told him. She too had electric blue eyes. "Nice to meet you, sir. Percy's told me a lot about you."

Paul laughed, and looked at Percy, who was now standing by his mother. He grinned at Paul. "He has, has he? Thank you, Thalia. And Paul's fine. I don't need sir."

He turned to look at the last, remaining demigod, and saw a blond-haired girl leaning against the doorframe. She had what looked like a broken ankle, but he didn't question it.

"Annabeth!" He exclaimed, and rushed to give her a hug. She looked mildly surprised, but gradually hugged him back. "I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!"

"That's okay, Paul." She pulled away from the embrace, and they all turned to see Sally engulf Thalia in a hug. Percy snorted, then broke down into a laugh at the girl's obvious discomfort. Even Annabeth joined in, and the girl's electric blue eyes narrowed dangerously at the two.

"Sally, dear, I think you're in Thalia's personal bubble." Paul told her gently, and Sally's eyes widened in realization.

"Oops, sorry, Thalia." Sally released the tall girl. She smiled, and Thalia smiled back.

"It's no problem, Mrs. Jackson." Thalia told her, and Sally frowned. She gave Thalia the _I-told-you-not-to-do-that-I-can't-believe-you-did _look.

"Thalia, I've told you Sally is fine," Sally scolded playfully at the girl. Thalia shrugged.

"Sorry," she apologized, although Paul thought she didn't look very sorry. Sally rushed towards Annabeth as soon as she saw the girl, and Annabeth was once again blanketed in hugs.

"Oh, Annabeth!" Sally exclaimed. "Thanks for keeping my son safe." Annabeth grinned at the words.

"Oh, no, Sally! You've got it wrong!" Annabeth laughed softly. "Percy saved me more times than I can count."

"I'm sure you've saved him, too, though." Sally told her. Annabeth nodded. Sally looked towards the other demigods, who were grinning and smiling at the little family reunion. She noticed how tired they were, and how hungry they looked.

"Would you guys like to come in for lunch?" Sally asked. "And rest a little? We're having grilled cheese."

They all looked at each other, then smiled at her. She took that as a yes for lunch. "Follow me."

She guided them into the kitchen, were some sat at the small table, while others leaned against the walls. Their eyes all gleamed with hunger, and Sally wondered when the others had properly eaten last. She figured it had been a while.

Percy came to help her, and she was secretly glad he seemed back to his normal self. He helped her slice the cheese, and to speed things up, Leo helped cooked them. She was surprised at first, then waved it off. He was a demigod, after all.

After they munched down dozens of her sandwiches, they came to sit in her living room, on her couches. They sat in silence, listening to the music, and gazing around their surroundings.

Sally and Paul were glad they were home in time for Christmas.

**Sorry for the bad ending, but I'm not too good with those. Hoped you enjoyed, and please review! Update should be coming soon! Also, I hope you guys didn't mind me adding Thalia in the story. I couldn't have left her out, she's my favorite character ****J. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to all those who read! Already, two favs, and three followers! Thanks a lot! Reviews are welcomed!**

**Disclaimer: I *sniff* do not own PJO or HoO, or anything else. Rick Riordan does.**

**Chapter one:**

Sally sat in the kitchen the next morning, sipping softly from a cup of coffee. Wisps of smoke rose from the drink, and she blew gently to cool it down. Paul sat in the seat next to hers, reading the newspaper, while drinking from a glass of milk, with dribbles of chocolate in it. There wasn't enough for chocolate milk, but enough so it had a ting of chocolate

Percy stumbled in, hair messy and wild. His clothes were wrinkled, as if he spent the night tossing and turning. He sat next to her, and nodded groggily at her. She smiled at the sight of him, and wanted to touch him to make sure he was real, and sitting in front of him. But she didn't.

"Morning, Mom." He grumbled tiredly, and she was slightly surprised to see him up so early, and so like himself before he left. She had been prepared for the worst.

"Hey, Percy." She responded as Paul looked up from the newspaper, and winked at Percy.

"Hey, Mom?" Percy began uncertainly. "Uh, I was wondering if, uh," he scratched the back of his neck self-consciously. "The other could stay for Christmas? I understand if they can't, it's just that they have no where else to go, since most of them have parents who are, uh, gone. I know you weren't expecting a whole house full of demigods for Christmas, but they've gone through so much, and haven't celebrated Christmas in a while, so I thought they could use the break."

Sally blinked in surprised at his little speech, then smiled. "Of course, they're welcomed to stay. Paul, are you okay with that?"

Paul nodded, then continued reading. "Of course, why wouldn't I? They're wonderful children, well, teens."

"Thanks, Mom, Paul." Percy smiled. "That means a lot to them." Sally smiled back.

"Are they asleep?" Paul asked. The boys had gotten the living room after they had placed all the boxes back into the closet. The girls had gotten Percy's room, after Sally forced him to clean it up, both to his objection.

Percy nodded. "Yeah, Frank snores like a pig. Leo isn't much better, and surprisingly, Jason is silent."

Sally rolled her eyes. "Boys."

"Hey!" Percy and Paul both exclaimed in unison. She raised her hands in surrender.

A couple of minutes later, the four girls walked in, eyes half-closed, hair a tangled mess, followed by Nico and Frank. _Jason and Leo must still be asleep, _Percy thought to himself.

"Hope we're not interrupting anything," Hazel smiled apologetically. Paul noticed how innocent she acted, and seemed, and it all seemed genuine.

"Of course not!" Paul stood up and stretched his arms. "Excuse me while I take a shower, and get ready. I have a feeling we're going to have a large line."

He left the kitchen that had become seemingly crowded in a matter of minutes. Annabeth sat on Percy's lap, and he leaned his chin on her shoulder. Sally smiled at the two, and how happy they were for someone who had fell into hell.

Frank and Hazel shared a chair, hip to hip, while Nico sat in Paul's seat. Since it was a four-person table, Thalia stood leaning on the wall next to Piper.

"Leo and Jason still sleeping?" Percy asked. Piper nodded.

"Yeah, those big lug heads." Piper rolled her eyes as she spoke. Everyone else barely heard over tired ears.

"Did everyone sleep good?" Sally asked. Everyone nodded in conferment.

"The best I've had in a while," Frank admitted to her, stretching his arms behind his head. "Thank you."

"Your welcome," Sally's eyes gleamed. "Percy has a question he would like to ask all of you when everybody's awake."

"Mom," Percy groaned.

"Your idea," Sally said, shrugging as the words left her mouth.

"Okay, I was wondering if . . . Everyone wanted to spend Christmas with me and my family?" Percy asked hopefully.

"I will," Frank said, looking at Sally. "If that's okay with you, Mrs. Jackson, er, Sally."

Sally nodded. "Of course."

"I will!" Hazel exclaimed, the same time as Thalia and Piper. They all grinned at each other.

"Seaweed Brain's stuck with me, anyways." Annabeth grinned as she leaned in for a kiss. Immediately, Frank and Nico leaned back. _Boys, _Sally thought.

"Well, duh, Wise Girl." Percy grinned at Annabeth. She rolled her grey eye at the comment.

"I don't know, guys . . ." Nico trailed off, and shuffled his sock-covered feet. "My dad may need me, or . . ."

"Death boy," Thalia snapped. "You're in, whether or not you dad agrees. Do you understand?"

Under her terrifying gaze, Nico nodded frantically, gulping as he did. Thalia grinned, and leaned back.

"Well, that's settled!" Sally clapped. "But, you guys are helping unpack and decorate for Christmas."

As she walked away, she grinned at the sound of them groaning.

Soft Christmas music filled the background as the girls cooked inside the kitchen. The boys were in the living room unpacking, and teasing and chattering. The girls were busy cooking cookies, each wearing a Santa hat, the color matching their parents'. Nico's hat was a pitch black, while Hazel's was a gold color. Frank's was red, and Annabeth's was a light grey. Thalia's was an electric blue that matched her eyes.

"This reminds me when my mom and I cooked food together," Hazel said wistfully as she rolled some chocolate chip cookie dough into cookie shapes. Piper, who was working next to her nodded in agreement.

"My dad and I used to make Black Bean soup for dinner, and we would celebrate Christmas with my Grandpa." Piper said. Hearing the two girls talk about they're Christmas's made Sally smile sadly as stirred the dough.

It was later that day, exactly twelve days from Christmas, and they were cooking for the dinner they had planned for Christmas eve, and day.

Thalia stiffened as she felt a glob of dough hit the back of her head, and ,eyes narrowed, whipped around to see Annabeth whistling suspiciously to herself. Hazel and Piper looked like they were holding back laughs, and even Sally was smiling. A mischievous look came across Thalia's face, and she reached in the bowl that contained M&M cookie dough. Grabbing a handful, she chucked it across the room, hitting Annabeth right in between her eyes. Hazel and Piper cracked up, but soon received a glob of dough in their hair. Both glared at Thalia as she tossed another ball of dough in her hand.

"Piper, Hazel, to my side!" Annabeth cried as they launched a full-on war with dough. Sally laughed in glee, until a glob hit her in the side of the face. Turning, she saw Piper laughing at her.

"Oh, it's on," Sally promised, then joined allies with Thalia. They were so caught up in their little battle they didn't see they boys peak in, and snap a few pictures. Then they decided to video tape the whole thing.

Thalia laughed as Annabeth slipped and fell into a puddle of cookie dough, her grey eyes wide. Gritting her teeth, Annabeth scooped it up, and flung it at Thalia, who caught it with ease, and shove it at Hazel. Hazel glared at the girl, and Piper rushed to her help. Piper shoved a handful into Thalia's mouth, and the girl went down.

"Victory!" Hazel and Piper laughed, and danced. Then they all turned to Sally, who was frozen, arms full of dough. Smiling sheepishly, she grabbed a white towel and waved it over her head. She did _not _want to mess with them.

"Bravo, ladies, bravo!" Leo clapped as he cheered. "That had to be the best fight since, I don't know, ever?"

"Plus, we have blackmail!" Percy added, waving the camera around. The others laughed at them.

"BTW, you are _so _cleaning this up!" Paul said with glee.

"We'll see you in a few days!" Jason added.

"Who knows, you may be done in time for Christmas!" Frank shrugged. The girls looked around the kitchen, and their jaws dropped. They all moaned.

"Have fun!" The boys called as the exited the room.

**Alright, that's it. Please read and review! Thanks!**


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